Background

In the 1930s, Samuel T. Orton (1879-1948) and Anna Gillingham (1878-1963)  brought focus to dyslexia as an educational problem and provided a remediation approach. Their approach introduced the idea of breaking reading and spelling down into smaller skills involving letters and sound.  It combined direct, multi-sensory teaching strategies paired with systematic, sequential lessons focused on phonics.

Dr. Samuel Orton was a neuropsychiatrist and pathologist. He was a pioneer in focusing attention on reading failure and related language processing difficulties. He brought together neuroscientific information and principles of remediation. As early as 1925 he had identified the syndrome of dyslexia, “word-blindness” as an educational problem. 

Anna Gillingham (1878-1963) was a gifted educator and psychologist with a talent and mastery of the language. Encouraged by Dr. Orton, she compiled and published instructional materials as early as the 1930s. These materials provided the foundation for student instruction and teacher training in what we know as the Orton-Gillingham Approach.

Today

Today, the Orton-Gillingham Approach (OG) is the foundation for teaching reading and spelling to struggling readers. Commonly referred to as OG, the approach benefits all students- not just students with dyslexia. More recently, the approach has been adapted to be put in mainstream classrooms.

Traditionally, OG refers to individual instruction. Concepts are taught explicitly, systematically, diagnostically, and prescriptively. These are all fancy ways for saying that reading instruction is taught step by step and lessons are created for the individual student.

Teachers “diagnose” the gap, “prescribe” explicit instruction, and “systematically” teach new concepts in a predictable way. Students learn in a one on one setting and instruction moves at the student’s pace. One-on-one settings help teachers “get in the trenches” with the student. 

Then teachers are able to find the learning gaps and base instruction on those holes. Students cannot move on to “filling the next hole” until they fully understand the current concept.

The Orton-Gillingham Approach allows both the student and teacher time to lay a solid foundation for more complex concepts. These are all important pieces of reading intervention. When struggling readers get Orton-Gillingham based instruction, they can learn to read and spell skillfully! 

Be tenacious.  Don’t give up.  Your child can learn to read.